V/Line chief flags longer trains

THE boss of the regional rail network has admitted for the first time nine-carriage trains on the Geelong line are a possibility.

Potential for a mega-train carrying more than 660 passengers comes after calls from commuters and rail experts to reduce peak-time overcrowding on the line.

But while James Pinder said a nine-carriage train was possible, he said it was not a current priority.

Mr Pinder said V/Line’s priority was bolstering its fleet from three to six-carriage trains.

“The (VLocity) train is capable of running in a nine-car configuration. (To run ninecarriage trains) it becomes an issue around infrastructure and number of vehicles (available),” he said.

“We don’t currently have any plans to run nine-car services. To run large numbers of nine-car services we would have to have a look at (increasing) platform lengths.”

Yesterday a spokeswoman for the Public Transport Minister did not say if the Government was considering introducing nine-carriage trains on the regional network.

The Geelong Advertiser understands platforms at Geelong station are long enough for nine-carriage trains — which could open the possibility for Geelong to Melbourne express trains.

Platforms at other smaller stations on the line would need to be extended for a stoppingall-stations Waurn Ponds to Southern Cross train.

Mr Pinder said ninecarriage trains did not run across the V/Line network at present.

Trips on the Geelong line account for about 44 per cent of those taken across the regional network and patronage on the line has risen 95.7 per cent between 2012 and June 30 this year.

Mr Pinder said more than 680,000 passenger trips were recorded on the Geelong line last month.

To address demand, the Government is delivering one three-carriage train per month and lodged an order for 48 carriages in June.

Last week space for 220 extra commuters was added to the Melbourne-bound 8.35am weekday train leaving Geelong, taking its capacity to more than 440.

But V/Line has failed to meet its punctuality target of 92 per cent in 34 of the past 37 months on the Geelong line.

“Performance historically by our standards has not been good enough which is why we have a plan to get it to where we want to be,” Mr Pinder said.

“You don’t change the operational performance of a railway of this size overnight. You do it incrementally.”

He said V/Line was not considering removing seats from carriages to address swelling demand on the Geelong line.

Meanwhile, coaches will replace all trains on the Geelong and Warrnambool lines this weekend as crews work to replace sleepers and complete other track maintenance.

Public Transport Victoria is warning commuters to expect delays of up to 45 minutes.